That's a pregnant idea. I was thinking stainless steel wool in something like that. Refractory composites... hmmm... around a wax form with a plumbing pipe for a spine...

Oh yeah this setup popped really good, 8" of 3/4 copper pipe, still playing with how far the snorkel goes down, then how long the pipe is. Blew the hair drier at the pipe and got a wopwopwopwop after the initial report. The hole in the whipped cream can is 1", so the annular opening is 1/16" all around. Need to make a wire holder so the flows aren't so screwed up as in this setup.